


Cave Talk

by valkyrie_fe



Series: Kirk + Spock Prime [1]
Category: Star Trek (2009)
Genre: Ficlet Collection, Fluff, Gen, Humor, Implied Relationships, Mild Language, Pre-Slash
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-05-30
Updated: 2012-05-30
Packaged: 2017-11-06 06:54:35
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 996
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/416025
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/valkyrie_fe/pseuds/valkyrie_fe
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The universe just likes repeating certain things - like trapping James Kirk in caves with Spock.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Cave Talk

**Author's Note:**

> This was a cute little idea that occurred to me at work one day and was subsequently jotted down on my break. The events spoken of are from a silly rp that a friend and I did, which was in turn based off a bit of some fill on the stxi kink meme I read a while back. So, uh. Yeah.

The elder Spock gazed about the cave with nothing more than mild interest and Jim just had to ask. "Was this a thing that happened a lot?" When Spock only raised an eyebrow in reply, he realized how vague he’d been. "Uh, I mean - getting stuck in caves on a freezing planet. That a recurring theme with, you know, you and the other me?"

Spock shook his head, a twinkle in his eyes that Jim had learned to read as amusement. "No, Jim, that seems to be restricted to just you," he replied. "Although there was once occasion with the Leonard McCoy of my time..."

Jim snorted. "I’m sure _that_ turned out well," he remarked without thinking. 

The Vulcan looked contemplative. "It was... interesting." Jim got the impression that there was a lot more to that story than just ‘interesting’ but he wasn’t going to press. After a moment, Spock cast another glance about the small space and let out a short breath that probably qualified as a Vulcan sigh. "I believe I am getting far too old for these sorts of adventures." 

Laughing, Jim nudged at the little fire they’d started with his boot. "I blame this universe - I think it’s fond of sticking me and any version of you in caves. Usually on arctic planets. The cave- _in_ is new, but..." 

For a moment, he thought Spock might give him a little run-down about how universes weren’t sentient and didn’t like doing anything in particular with the beings that inhabited it - he’d heard the same from the younger Spock any time he was caught saying something about the universe in general - but the greying Vulcan just looked at him, the corners of his lips turned very slightly up. Apparently he decided to humor his companion. "Does it?" he asked. 

Jim snorted, using a stick to poke at the fire again and encourage the flames. "Yeah," he said. "There was when I met you on Delta Vega, obviously. Then there was this time we went to explore this planet that was _supposed_ to be some kind of tropical paradise according to our scans."

"From your reaction, I gather that it was not." 

"Not hardly," Jim confirmed. "We beamed down in the middle of a frozen wasteland. Right in time for a blizzard to roll in." 

"Though I have never put much weight into superstitions of luck, I still believe the most correct phrase in response to that is: our luck tended to be much the same," Spock said. That little glimmer was in his eyes again and Jim couldn’t help but laugh. 

"Go figure."

"Indeed. But, since you are here, I feel it safe to assume that you managed to survive." 

Jim grinned. "Of course. We got Chekov out of there first, but the storm was intensely magnetic and god knows what else, so it interfered with our sensors. So Scotty beamed some supplies to hold us until they could safely beam _us_ back up. Except, you know, the supplies got messed up too and some of the more useful stuff didn’t make it." Here he rolled his eyes. "Naturally. We had a handful of rations, an extra phaser power-pack, and one jacket. So it was actually finding a cave that saved our asses, really." 

"I see," Spock said. His tone was warm, and with the subtle look in his eyes, Jim thought he could read wistfulness in him. "I must confess to curiosity as to the fate of the single coat that made it down, however..." 

Tossing the stick in his hand onto the fire, Jim grinned again. "You - uh, _he_ \- gave it to me. Fed me some line bout first officer’s duty and a captain’s safety necessary to the ship and all that good stuff. But even in the cave with rocks heated up by our phasers, he was miserable." 

Instead of pointing out that Vulcans didn’t feel misery, Spock instead said, "I can certainly imagine." But when Jim shot him a concerned glance, he shook his head. "...I sense there is more to this tale."

The captain’s cheeks turned a little pink. He liked the older Spock a great deal, but sometimes it was unnerving for someone to read him so effortlessly. Especially when asking for details of a story that was embarrassing with certain audiences. In this case, an older alternate version of his first officer definitely qualified. 

"Well," he said, shifting. "Like I said, he was sitting there looking so miserable, I couldn’t just huddle up in the jacket and say nothing... so I, uh. Shared. The jacket was kinda huge in the first place, so it was easy to just budge up a little and share it... and from there it wasn’t so bad, actually," Jim continued. He was aware that this now qualified as babbling, but it was hard to stop. "I mean, you guys are really warm, you know?"

He winced and clamped his jaw shut, lest any _other_ inane blather spew from him in his haste to cover up his embarrassment. ‘You guys are really warm’ - really? No shit. 

Spock, however, only looked amused in his subtle Vulcan way. "Yes," he replied. "I imagine that the addition of Vulcan body heat trapped in the coat proved quite helpful against the cold." 

Jim nodded, smiling. "Yeah, it did." His cheeks were still a little red, but - it wasn’t like he had _other_ motives for doing that. Nope. Survival and all that. Snuggling up close to spock for over five hours was totally all business - just because it was rather _nice_ didn’t take away from that. 

So that knowing look from the older Spock and that almost-smile of his had no business making him feel _more_ flustered. It occurred to Jim that to avoid this red-faced embarrassment, he shouldn’t keep focusing on the memory of the way the tips of Spock’s ears had turned green when he first unbuttoned the jacket and slipped practically flush to him.

_  
_

Dammit.


End file.
